Ad tech firm Grapeshot grabs $3.3 mln from Albion Ventures

Grapeshot said Friday that it has secured $3.3 million from Albion Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Robert Whitby-Smith, a partner at Albion Ventures, has been added to Grapeshot’s board of directors. Based in New York and London, Grapeshot is an ad tech firm that provides keyword contextual targeting solutions.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Grapeshot, the UK-based digital advertising technology company specializing in keyword contextual targeting, is pleased to announce today the completion of a new funding round, which raises $3.3 million, to further fuel its growth in providing contextual data analytics to both advertisers and publishers in the real-time-bidding (RTB) programmatic marketplace.
The lead, new investor is U.K.-based Albion Ventures, whose partner Robert Whitby-Smith joins the Grapeshot Board of Directors. Existing investors IQ Capital and current Grapeshot Chairman Tim Schoonmaker have also supported the new round.
The additional investment will facilitate Grapeshot, whose technology is rooted in advanced Information Retrieval techniques developed and refined at Cambridge University in the UK, in its efforts to integrate its keyword contextual technology and services into more platforms and exchanges on a global basis. Based on the analysis of URL content, Grapeshot uses keywords to identify and select the editorial content and context most relevant to a brand marketer’s messages. “Grapeshot Keywords” is the most used app on the AppNexus RTB platform, and is used by over 180 trading desks and agency organizations across Turn, MediaMath and AppNexus.
John Snyder, Grapeshot CEO explains:
“Our Agency Trading Desk customers have a global appetite to analyze consumer engagement and buy relevant media. Our recent deployments in the Japanese, Russian, and Chinese languages emphasize the global dimension of real-time bidding and advertising analytics. We are processing over 2 billion bids an hour, across 248 countries in 25 languages, and additional funding accelerates our global growth”.
Robert Whitby-Smith, Partner, Albion Ventures said:
“Grapeshot offers the most compelling solution to a key concern for brands moving to real-time bidding…how do I know my online ads are not in the wrong place? A premium automotive brand does not want to advertise next to an article about a crash. Beyond brand protection, Grapeshot’s data analytics enable advertisers to optimize context to boost sales and reduce cost per acquisition.
In addition to the strength of the value proposition, we were attracted to the rapid customer traction, the proven platform scalability and the visionary reputation of the team. Grapeshot has all the facets of a highly focused enterprise poised for success”.
About Grapeshot
Grapeshot is a New York and London-based ad tech company that provides keyword technology to match advertising messages to relevant online content. Improving engagement between advertising and audiences, delivers more efficient and effective campaigns to both advertisers and content publishers. For more information on Grapeshot, visit www.grapeshot.co.uk or contact [email protected] or call +44 (0) 2033846262
About Albion
Albion Ventures LLP which was founded in 1996 is based in London and manages approximately £250 million of evergreen listed venture capital funds and has investments in approximately 80 businesses.
Albion Ventures is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
For further information see www.albion-ventures.co.uk
About IQ Capital
IQ Capital is a Cambridge and London based venture capital fund investing into companies exploiting smart ‘IQ’ intensive technologies, with a particular focus on ICT. We invest from £250k (seed) to £5m (growth) in UK focused, rapidly developing businesses, generally at post-revenue or post-prototype stage. www.iqcapitalfund.co.uk

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